Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More

At the end of the second world war, a Captain in the United States Navy had a radical idea about the future of the American fleet.  He felt that the largest American naval vessels, especially submarines, could be powered by the newly harnessed nuclear power.  His ideas, and his personality, radically changed the United States Navy and navies around the world operate.  Learn more about Hyman Rickov...

One of the most important inventions of early humans was the compass. The compass has aided human navigation around the Earth for centuries.  Despite being a critical technology in the development of transportation, it actually took centuries between its discovery of its underlying principles and its eventual use as a practical tool for navigation.  Despite their origins over 2,000 years ago, they...

Traveling to space is an inherently dangerous thing to do. In the first years of the space race, both the Soviet Union and the United States were fortunate in that none of their missions resulted in a loss of life.  However, 1967 saw that luck run out for both countries. NASA saw the death of three astronauts in Apollo 1, and the Soviets lost their first cosmonaut during the Soyuz 1 mission.  The...

Ancient people around the world all made a rather similar discovery. In certain places, they could find a black stone in the ground which could burn. For the most part, this combustible black rock took a backseat to wood as a fuel source, but eventually, it replaced wood and was the fuel source that drove the industrial revolution.  Over time, other energy sources supplanted coal, and now coal app...

In the year 70, the Roman Emperor Vespasian commissioned what would become the world’s largest amphitheater.  Approximately ten years later, it opened to great fanfare and 100 days of games.  No greater amphitheater has ever been built in the nearly 2000 years since its construction. Learn more about the Flavian Amphitheater, aka the Colosseum, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, on this episod...

On December 29, 1170, the Archbishop of Canterbury was brutally murdered on the floor of the Canterbury Cathedral by four armed knights while preparing for his evening prayers.  The ramifications of that incident shook the country of England, its king, and the Catholic Church.  Over 850 years later, it is still remembered and remains one of the most significant events in English history. Learn mor...

Prior to the modern era, very few people traveled anywhere. It was rare for anyone to travel more than about 20 miles from where they were born.  However, there were a few people who managed to travel quite extensively. In particular, there was one man in the 14th century who might have traveled more than any other person up to that point in history. In fact, he was better traveled than even more...

It is the world’s largest island, has the closest point of land to the North Pole, and is the least densely populated political territory on the planet.  80% of it is covered by an ice mass that is second only to the Antarctic ice sheet.  Beneath that ice might just lie the largest collection of untapped natural resources on Earth. Learn more about Greenland, the island, and the people who live th...

In January of 1930, a 21-year-old by the name of Clyde Barrow met a 19-year-old by the name of Bonnie Parker.  Together they formed one of the most infamous couples in history. For a period of four years during the Great Depression they terrorized the central United States. They went on a crime spree that included robbery, kidnapping, and murder.  That was until it suddenly came to an incredibly v...

During World War I, a Dutch dancer and courtesan was recruited by the French as a spy. However, not long after this, the French turned on her and accused her of being a double agent and spying for Germany.  It was a case that rocked the allied powers and one which is still being talked about over 100 years after the events which took place. Learn more about Mata Hari and the story which captivated...

In the history of mathematics, there were several times when mathematicians encountered problems that they didn’t know what to make of. It wasn’t a case of a problem with a very difficult solution so much as it was a problem that didn’t seem to make any sense.  In one such case, the resolution of the problem led to an entirely new branch of mathematics. Learn more about imaginary numbers, aka comp...

Depending on how you define it, there were somewhere between 70 to 100 Roman emperors between the ascension of Augustus to the fall of the western empire in 476. A period of about 500 years. Some of them managed to be just and competent rulers who ruled for extended periods of peace and prosperity.  Others….were not.  Learn more about the worst Roman emperors who ran the gamut from insane to incom...

It can be consumed in blocks or wheels, strings or curds, slices or cubes.  It can be soft or hard, fresh or old, and it can even be consumed if it smells bad and has mold on it. Pizza, hamburgers, and crackers depend on it, yet it can also be eaten by itself. I am of course talking about cheese. Learn more about cheese, how it was discovered, and how it is made, on this episode of Everything Ever...

In the mid-19th century, the various games called football separated and evolved into their own games.  While association football and rugby became dominant on one side of the Atlantic, a totally different version of football evolved on the other side of the Atlantic.  That version of the game over the course of 150 years has grown into the move valuable professional sports league in the world. Le...

In 1792, the people of France overthrew their monarchy and established the French Republic.  The leaders of the French Revolution didn’t just want to change the French political system, they wanted to radically overhaul French culture and society as well.  That extended all the way to the very calendar which was used to keep track of time.  Learn more about the French Republican Calendar, how it w...

Sometime around 3,200 years ago, a new civilization became ascendent on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.  This group wasn’t like the Empires that surrounded them. They weren’t focused so much on land acquisition and conquest so much as they were focused on commerce and trade.  For centuries they ruled over trade and commerce in the Mediterranean until they finally succumbed to their mor...

In the year 1511, King Henry VIII of England launched what was to be his flagship, The Mary Rose.  For 33 years, the Mary Rose was the pride of the English fleet, serving in conflicts against the Scottish and the French. Then in 1545, for reasons still not understood, it sank.  However, it was discovered in 1971 and the secrets it revealed changed our knowledge of Tudor England. Learn more about t...

Located in the heart of North America is one of the most important rivers.  It isn’t the longest river in the world and it doesn’t carry the highest volume of water. However, its location makes it one of the most valuable rivers on Earth It has been the subject of songs, the location of military battles, and is one of the most important economic transportation corridors on the planet. Learn more a...

On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress of the 13 British colonies in North America issues a document addressing their grievances with the British Crown and stated to the world why they considered themselves to be a free and independent country.  That document and its legacy have had a much bigger impact than its signatories could have ever imagined almost 250 years ago. Learn more about the Dec...

In July of every year, over the course of three weeks, the world’s best road cyclists assemble in France to compete in the world’s premier bicycling race: the Tour de France.  The competition is one of the most grueling in all of sports and cyclists often have to endure levels of pain and exhaustion which are seldom seen in sports. Over the 120 years, it has been in existence, it has seen its shar...

Ever since astronomers figured out that the stars in the sky are just like our sun, they began wondering if those stars had planets just like our sun.  For centuries this remained an unanswerable question. Telescopes and techniques weren’t advanced enough to get an answer one way or another. Eventually, however, astronomers developed methods to detect if there were planets outside of our solar sys...

On July 1, 2020, I published the very first episode of this podcast. Since then, it has been quite a journey.  Some of you have been along for the entire ride, some of you found me along the way, and some of you are brand new.  I’ve done some special episodes in the past about how I started this podcast, but in this anniversary episode, I want to do something a bit different.  Learn more about why...

It has been said that they are a girl’s best friend, they are forever, and that they are the hardest substance in the world.  In nature, they are created deep beneath the Earth at extreme temperatures and pressures, yet in the laboratory, they can be created in a near-vacuum. For all practical purposes, you can’t scratch it, yet you can cut it, and economists have noted the paradox of how it is pr...

Located approximately 560 miles or 900 kilometers off the coast of Ecuador lies a chain of islands that are like no other in the world.  These islands have been instrumental to our understanding of both biology and geology, and remain a place of intense scientific study today.  In addition to scientists, it draws tourists, photographers, and even podcasters, from all over the world.  Learn more ab...

In the year 330, the Roman Emperor Constantine decided that the capital of the entire Roman empire should be moved.  The location he selected was a small Greek town by the name of Byzantium located in the middle of the Bhosperous Straits approximately 500 miles or 800 kilometers from Rome.  From there it grew into one largest and wealthiest cities in the world today and was the seat of more than o...